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Namco has done a competent job of capturing the charm and story of the famous anime, but the gameplay is hurt by the focus on story. It’s hard to have a great RPG without all the elements that make the genre what it is. Still, Nadia makes for a relaxing adventure without all the trappings of your typical RPG. If you’re looking for a different spin on a gaming standard, this one might be worth looking into.
A lot of classic game franchises have been making comebacks lately. Bionic Commando, Rocket Knight, and Splatterhouse are just a few of the brands that are being retooled for modern audiences. After Namco is finished giving Rick and his 2”x4” the upgrade treatment, I would love to see Rolling Thunder be next. Sadly, that hasn’t been announced yet (rubs rabbit’s foot and prays for an E3 miracle), so we’ll have to be satisfied with the excellent trilogy of games that is already out there. The third installment, a Genesis exclusive, was the last time we saw the Agency and Geldra go at it, and it’s actually a darn solid game.
Namco had a rocky start on the Genesis, hampered by Nintendo’s ironclad licensing agreements. When it was finally free to publish on the platform, the company let loose with a slew of quality software. Among the titles released was a fighter that was almost instantly overshadowed by the impending transition to 32-bit consoles. WeaponLord was a deep and intriguing brawler, and too many gamers overlooked it in their mad dash to the next generation.
I can imagine the executives at Namco back in ’93, as they brainstormed about how else to use their yellow mascot Pac-Man. As they ran through the gamut of genres, one young suit shot his arm into the air. ” I’ve got it!” He exclaimed, “what about a puzzle game?” All the other executives nodded in agreement, their faces slowly growing wide with a grin of satisfaction. It was time to collect another cash crop, and as he had always done before, Pac-Man was about to ensure a bountiful harvest. Thus, Pac-Attack was born, and the Genesis received another quality puzzler.
Namco has maintained Pac-Man in the public eye for almost three decades, reinventing him every so often so that younger generations of gamers never forget the premier mascot of the industry. The incredible Pac-Man Championship Edition on Xbox Live Arcade, for example, shows how the yellow icon still has what it takes to make an impact. It hasn’t always been this way though. Over the years, Namco has tried all kinds of different formulas with Pac-Man, and some weren’t as successful as others. One of the more offbeat variations of the theme was Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, which adopted a graphic adventure interface and took a lot of the chomp out of the gameplay.